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One of the many striking aspects of the 2020 COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic in the U.S. was that the public response to social distancing restrictions intended to curb the spread of the virus was sharply divided over partisan political lines. As one (of many) academic studies found that year, Individuals’ social distancing has more to do with whether they are Republicans or Democrats than the incidence of COVID-19 in their communities, and the effect of partisanship on the willingness to social distance is increasing over time, especially among Republicans. Each side blamed the other for weaponizing the pandemic response, with President Donald Trump accusing Democrats of hypocrisy during the 2020 U.S. presidential campaign by repeatedly asserting that come the day after the Nov. 3 election (i.e., when COVID would no longer be a useful political issue), Americans wouldn't be hearing much about the coronavirus any more: Trump's words on the campaign trail echoed those of U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who on July 22, 2020, guaranteed that if Democratic challenger Joe Biden won the election, within a week, Democrats would lift pandemic-related restrictions on schools and businesses and claim that suddenly all the problems are solved: Here's a clip of Cruz issuing his guarantee: Cruz turned out to be doubly wrong. Not only did Biden win the election, but Democrats did not re-open schools and businesses amidst proclamations that everything's magically better a week later. In fact, within a few weeks after the election, Democratic governors and mayors in states such as Washington, California, and Michigan had imposed extensive new restrictions aimed at slowing the spread of COVID-19.
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